


Chemistry

by Copperstown



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-06
Updated: 2013-06-06
Packaged: 2017-12-14 03:33:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 856
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/832232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Copperstown/pseuds/Copperstown
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><i>High school AU</i>. Louis hates chemistry. Liam and Zayn resolve theirs.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Chemistry

“I hate exams,” Harry groans. His head slips from where it’s resting in his palm, and his forehead hits the mathematics book in front of him.

“Who invented them anyway?” Louis asks, frustration evident in his voice and in the way he’s erasing something on his paper so roughly that the paper crumples and tears. “They had a seriously sick sense of humor. Especially whoever invented exams in chemistry. Sadist, I tell you, he was a sadist.”

“Or a chemist,” Liam suggests. Louis just glares at him.

“A chemist who’d inhaled too many of his chemical fumes and gone bonkers,” Zayn says.

“Lads,” Niall sighs gravely. “I can’t do this. My head can’t contain any more information. And because of that I’ll fail.”

“No you won’t,” Liam says. “You just need a break and some sugar to get the old brain cells working, and then you’ll be ready to learn all about…” he glances at Niall’s books and papers. “Radioactivity.”

“Yes, food,” Niall groans. “I need food. I need sustenance if I’m ever gonna pass these stupid exams.”

“Danny Jones passed last year, and if he can do it, then we can do it too,” Louis says decisively.

“If I can learn to do it, you can learn to do it,” Harry sings softly.

“Tell yourself it’s easy, and it’s true,” Zayn continues.

“You can learn to do it too!” they all shout out, and then double over their books laughing.

“We’re singing _Anastasia_. I need a break,” Louis says and slams his book closed.

“Harry started it,” Liam says.

“I’m going to go get us all some lunch, since it’s almost one pm, and we’ve been here since ten this morning without moving anywhere near food, and I’m starving,” Louis proclaims.

“Ooh, I’ll come with you, I don’t know what I want,” Niall says and gets up.

“I’ll help you carry,” Harry says, and then the three of them are up and off towards the café around the corner from the public library they’re sitting in. That leaves Liam and Zayn entirely on their own, and a part of Liam wonders if the other three did that on purpose. He’d like to think that it’s a coincidence, and that his friends don’t actively work together to force him and his best friend into awkward situations, but then again. It’s them.

“I wonder if that was intentional,” Zayn mumbles.

“I’d like to think not, but I have a feeling it was,” Liam sighs.

“I suppose we do owe them for making things so…” Zayn trails off briefly and makes a generic hand gesture. “Awkward? For all the… jealousy and the arguments and whatnot.”

“I didn’t argue much with you about Perrie,” Liam says quickly. “You started it with Danielle.”

“Well, I was right about her, wasn’t I?” Zayn counters. Liam sighs again.

“Yeah, you were. Sadly,” he mumbles.

There’s silence between them for a while. They look around, try to avoid eye contact, but they do glance at each other every now and again, only to look away quickly when they’re caught. It’s been like this for a while. Liam hates it.

“Look, we’ve been dancing around this for ages now, and I hate dancing,” Zayn begins. Liam can’t help but snort out a laugh because yes, Zayn really does hate dancing. And he’s not very good at it either. “I’m pretty sure we both know what it is. I think we’re on the same page.” Zayn looks directly into Liam’s eyes. It catches Liam for a moment, because Zayn has truly beautiful eyes. “We both know that we’ve been doing this dance, or playing this game of tag, or whatever metaphor you want to use, because we… to sound utterly cliché… have feeling for each other.”

They both suck in a breath of air.

“Yeah,” Liam says on the exhale. “We do.”

“It’s why we’ve been acting so weird, and why we’ve been so jealous. But there’s nothing in our way now, no girlfriends or anything,” Zayn says. “So –”

Liam surges forward and presses his mouth hard against Zayn’s before Zayn can finish his sentence.

At first, Zayn is understandably surprised. But it doesn’t take him very long to kiss back and deepen it to snogging.

Exactly how much time they spend making out is unknown, but they don’t pull apart until others get back.

“Well, finally!” Harry shouts. Liam doesn’t pull away, and his hand on Zayn’s jaw keeps Zayn from pulling away as well- instead, Liam just raises his middle finger in the general direction of Harry, Louis, and Niall. “Well that’s uncalled for. Bad manners, Liam Payne, bad manners.”

“Now that’s a chemistry I can get behind,” Niall calls out, and now Liam and Zayn have to pull apart to laugh properly.

“No,” Louis says sternly, pointing a finger at Niall. “No chemistry jokes. They are banned.”

“What? Why?” Niall asks, seeming very upset, as he plops down and places two sandwiches in front of Liam and Zayn.

“Because,” Louis says, sitting down gracefully, crossing one leg over the other. He glares at the books in from of him. “I hate chemistry.”


End file.
